Court Delays Hearing On Suit Barring Obaseki From PDP Primary

In an apparently final battle for the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) ahead of the main governor scheduled for Thursday, June 25, the federal court in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, postponed an accelerated hearing to a lawsuit against governor Godwin Obaseki.

The nation reports that the lawsuit has been filed to prevent Obaseki from contesting the PDP primary elections, which would see its flag bearer for September 19, the state governorship election.

The court chaired by Justice E.O. Obile resigned three hours after the lawyer appealed to plaintiff Ferdinand Orbih that they should be given a short time to investigate an out-of-court settlement.

The judge, while ruling on an Exparte application on Tuesday, June 23, issued an order to prevent Obaseki from participating in the PDP primary election after one of the aspirants, Omoregie Ogbeide-Ihama, filed a lawsuit against the governor.

The court also ordered an accelerated hearing on the matter and met again on Wednesday, June 24.

However, Ogbeida-Ihama’s lawyer informed the court that the parties to the lawsuit had taken steps to resolve the matter outside the court, and asked the judge to stop the trial for four hours.

However, Obile asked the parties to take three hours to document their terms of reference and to inform the court, which is due to resume by 12:30 p.m.

The governor was reported to have joined the People’s Democratic Party after rejecting the pecking order with his former party, APC.

Three aspirants had already been cleared off the way by the party, but Gideon Ikhine, a top hopeful, later stepped down for the governor after the party’s leaders prevailed.

However, efforts to persuade Omoregie Ogbeide Ihama and Keneth Imasuagbon to follow the same path have been pushed against the wall and attempts have been made to end the governor’s term in the PDP.